🚩 Capitol Hill Report: Taxpayer-Paid Transition Surgeries

December 16, 2017

Taxpayer-Paid Transition Surgeries

After a federal judge ruled against President Trump’s ban on the recruitment of transgenders, the Pentagon announced they will be accepting transgender recruits by January 1st, 2018. The Trump administration asked for a delay while they appeal, but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly refused to grant this simple request. She stated, “…the court is not persuaded that defendants will be irreparably injured by allowing the accession of transgender individuals into the military beginning on January 1, 2018.” However, she is ignoring the glaring repercussions that this decision can have on the safety of our nation.

The Department of Defense clearly requires that individuals be “free of medical conditions or physical defects that may require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization, or probably will result in separation from the service for medical unfitness.” Transition surgeries can take a year or longer to complete, which would render them unable to be deployed during that time. Afterwards, the individual must take daily hormone treatments that require refrigeration. This is an impossible task in many deployable locations. Even those who have diabetes can enlist. American taxpayers will be footing the $3.7 billion bill over the next ten years for these surgeries and treatments alone.

Eagle Forum will continue to work with Congressional allies, such as Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), to defeat this effort.

DACA on the Docket

Thirty-four House Republicans signed onto a letter asking for a fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by the end of the year. They claim that they had to act immediately because of those who are losing their permits. However, this is a lie. Although thousands of immigrants have lost their permits since President Trump issued the DACA recension, it is simply because they failed to meet the October 5th deadline. The permits that were renewed will expire on March 5, 2018.

Rushing a bill of this magnitude is irresponsible. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has reassured the public that there will be no DACA amnesty in the end-of-the-year spending package. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is countering that statement, though, by saying a bipartisan deal is in the works that will exchange border security measures for a DACA fix. Funding for a border wall is long overdue, but giving amnesty to immigrants negates the purpose of a wall.

Eagle Forum will closely monitor any immigration legislation that begins moving through Congress.